of husband and child was with Susan now. Brandy had driven the good angel out, and the demons were rioting within. More drink! Her purse was full. Frank had put an extra sovereign in that day, and she treated, with his hardearned money, the habitués of the Anchor. Ten o'clock ! Still the sick child at home was forgotten. Susan did what only a drunken mother could have done. She left her little Mary to live or to die, alone. As the clock struck, the landlady reminded her of home, but she answered she had left it in good hands. She grew more and more oblivious, and dead to duty; and reeled away at last when the house was shut up, not with unsteady steps towards her residence, but supported by the two men, Simpson and Efford. She never reached. home that night! Poor little Mary! Till nine o'clock, Ellen Stevens waited for the return of Mrs. Bertrand. Another hour passed, and still she did not come. The girl could stay no longer. 'Mrs. Bertrand is sure to be in presently,' she said; so she made up the fire, and left the little child asleep. Hours passed away. Frank Bertrand was wearily pacing the deck of the Fury, more miserable than he had ever been in his life, and anxious almost beyond endurance as to the fate of both wife and child. Oh! if he could have heard the low wailing cry, 'Water, mother,' 'Water, good father;' 'Little Mary is so ill, mother;' 'Why does nobody come?" If he had known that his only child was dying thus lonely and forsaken, whilst his wife dishonoured his honest name, that strong heart must have been broken. Susan came back at last. Late the next morning she opened the door, and entered, ashamed to meet the eyes of her sick child. But she never would meet those expressive eyes again. The life was for ever gone from that innocent child; a little dead Mary was all that was left. Extended on the bed lay the body, the eyes opened, the limbs unstraightened, the hands icy cold, and the gay foreign toys strewn over the floor. Then the mother turned and fled from the room, screaming for help. The woman of the house came, and other neighbours, amongst them Ellen Stevens; and then a policeman, who questioned the poor distracted Susan, and to whom she confessed having staid out all night, amidst beseeching entreaties that he would not tell her husband. Of course, Frank Bertrand was told; and then Susan learned, if she had never known before, what strong drink and bad company had made her throw away. The passionate lamentations of a most loving heart-the cries of compassionate tenderness over the little dead Mary, whom his wife's heartless neglect neglect had slain,-the expression of an indignation too deep for anger, and almost too strong for forgiveness, might have convinced any woman, not utterly hardened, that she would never be so loved again. But Susan went to her old enemy, the brandy bottle, and her heart was steeled once more. There was an inquest held at the Anchor, and as the doctor's examination had convinced him that the child would have died, even with care, Susan escaped legal punishment, although she was severely censured by the coroner, at the request of the jury. Frank Bertrand could no longer endure England, and was soon again sent off to a foreign station, through the interest of his late captain. He would not take leave of Susan now. His heart was with little dead Mary-the child-victim to strong drink. There is no artistic conclusion to this true tale of wrong; Susan is, we fear, still pursuing her downward path, but the veil of uncertainty hides her from our view. Oh! that she might be restored to penitence and virtue. Oh! that around her, and every mother who reads these pages, the angel of little dead Mary, who does always behold the face of our Father who is in heaven,' may hover, pointing a warning finger to the ruby wine, the comforting cordial, the dangerous brandy; and uttering such a clear, sweet voice of protest against the robber of a mother's love, as shall pierce through webs of sophistry and prejudice, straight to the inmost heart! ART. VII.-THE SOCIAL SCIENCE CONGRESS IN MANCHESTER. dency owing to the change of the Ministry, were hostile signs on the nativity of the tenth annual Congress; but the energy of the local secretaries and committee countervailed these, and the Manchester Congress was the most successful of any of the gatherings of the association since the one held at Edinburgh. Sixteen hundred and fiftysix tickets were sold; and the net proceeds amounted to upwards of £1,052. The meetings throughout were well attended, and the business, as arranged by the Committees of Departments, was satisfactorily gone through. In the International Law Section of the Jurisprudence and Law Amendment Department, there was an interesting discussion on a paper by Mr. Anthony Trollope on International Copyright. The duty of the mother country towards less favoured races in the colonies was considered, and the opinion was strongly expressed that judicial appointments in such of our dependencies as are inhabited by various races should be placed in the hands of the Imperial Government, in order to secure an independent and impartial tribunal. International extradition for non-political offences was favourably regarded in this section; but it was agreed that there must be the provision that the prisoner should be within a certain time put on his trial in his own country for the offence alleged against him at the time of his extradi tion, and for no other; and that where this was not done, the State that gave him up should be entitled to reclaim him. It was, at the same time, thought that prima facie evidence of guilt might be submitted to a high officer, constituted for the purpose, as a safeguard against charges fabricated for the purpose of securing the alleged criminal; and that the decisions of such an officer, under the express provisions of an international code, would be received with as much confidence by foreign nations as those of prize courts. In the Municipal Law Section of the same Department, an entire change in the existing law of bankruptcy was advocated, including abolition of the existing courts and machinery, and placing the estate of the insolvent debtor, and his acquittance from liability, entirely in the hands of the creditors, as a body corporate and extra-judicially; leaving offences against penal acts to be dealt with by ordinary criminal courts, and all litigation relating to the winding-up to the ordinary civil courts. The Committee of the Department were unanimously requested to prepare a full report on the papers and discussion, and submit the same to an early meeting of the Department. In considering the best method of reducing the law of England to a compendious form, the Congress had the advantage of the presence of a distinguished United States lawyer, Mr. D. D. Field, who has taken a leading part in reducing the law of his own State of New York, to a code. The ablo and convincing statement of Mr. Field, in explaining the work thus accomplished, made a very marked impression, and a strong feeling was displayed by the section that there should be no longer delay in commencing so useful a work for our own country. The council subsequently resolved to urge on the Government the appointment of a royal commission, or some other procedure likely to lead to an early effort to codify the law. Mr. Field, in the address which he delivered as chairman of the International Section of the Jurisprudence Department, advocated an international code for settling disputes between civilised States; and the council resolved to accede to the proposal, and have appointed a committee to prepare the outline of such a code, and report at the next annual meeting. Various remedies for bribery at elections were suggested in the Municipal Law Section. Mr. Hare read a paper explanatory of his celebrated voting scheme, and a discussion ensued upon it. In the Repression of Crime Section it was unanimonsly resolved, on the motion of the Right Hon. Jos. Napier, that the treatment of life-sentenced convicts should be revised, so as to make their liberation the exception, and not, as now, the rule; and that, to obviate danger or detriment to other prisoners or prisons, a special prison should be established, if possible on some island near our own shores, in which these convicts might receive special treatment. It was agreed that further legislation against infanticide was necessary; that the burden of illegitimacy should be laid on both parents according to their means; that capital punishment for infanticide should be abolished; and that the modification proposed in the 12th, 13th, and 14th clauses of the report of the Capital Punishment Commission should be adopted. It was generally thought that coroners should inquire into all cases of death in workhouses, reformatories, and lunatic asylums, as they do now in gaols; and that their courts are susceptible of much improvement. Exertions recently made for the reformation and future employment of female convicts, through the operations of the Carlisle Memorial Refuge, and other similar institutions, were noticed as having been very successful. Coming next to the Second, or Education Department, we impinge at once on various difficulties, which prevent all possibility of unanimity. But there was a strong opinion in many quarters that education ought to be legally obligatory, and that it should be paid for out of an education rate. Yet the present denominational system was by no means out of favour, and the religious element in teaching was much insisted on. Still, it was considered that by giving the parents a free choice of schools the difficulty might be met, at least in large towns. The labours of the Manchester Education Aid Society were felt to have done much to aid in bringing the education question to its solution. The administration of educational endowments was the theme of an able paper by Sir James Kay-Shuttleworth. His proposal for the formation of a department of public charities, in connection with the Privy Council, and acting in harmony with the Executive Committee, Committee, received much attention. That children should be exempted in State-aided schools from religious teaching not approved of by parents, was largely conceded; some preferred that it should be done on the Conscience Clause principle; others favoured the adoption of a secular system. Unanimously it was agreed that the matter was ripe for immediate treatment by the Legislature. There was a long discussion as to the conditions on which the State should pecuniarily assist schools hitherto completely or partially unaided, and it was agreed, by resolution, That this Department, while strongly affirming that complete provision for national education must be made by act of Parliament, are nevertheless convinced that much might be done in the meantime by relaxing in some points the Privy Council rules, and therefore earnestly request the council of the association to press on the Committee of Council on Education the necessity for modifying the revised code in the following particulars in the case of elementary schools, where the average attendance is below seventy, or where the school fees do not reach one-sixth of the total annual expenses. 1. That a certificated teacher be not necessarily required. 2. That the age at which children present at the inspection become entitled to the grant of 6s. 6d., without individual examination, be raised from six to eight years. 3. That supplementary rules 8 and 9, which fix the standard higher than the schools in view can attain, be not enforced. 4. That where an additional expense is incurred by industrial teaching a grant in aid be given. 5. That when the schools are held in rented premises no reduction be made for endowment, unless to the extent of the excess (if any) of the endowment over the rent.' pulsory, was generally recommended, as also was the inclusion of larger populations by extension of the areas of sanitary administration. Some discussion arose out of smoke; it will not, we hope, end in it. Dr. Angus Smith deserves well of the community for his strenuous presentment of the evil effects of smoke on health, vegetation, property, and the good spirits and comfort of everybody. Small, certain, and cumulative fines were considered superior to heavy ones, which, being seldom imposed, do no good, and it was thought that Government should do the inspection and should enforce the penalties. With regard to the pollution of rivers, Lord Robert Montagu obtained the unanimous adoption of a resolution to the effect that while it is necessary to remove, as speedily as possible, excreta and refuse from houses, it is advisable eventually to procure compulsory legislation against the pollution of rivers by town sewage; and that the council should petition Parliament to compel towns and manufactories to use all practicable means for arresting such pollution. Amendment of the law against the adulteration of food was recommended, assimilating it in some degree to that relating to weights and measures, and including publication and exposure amongst the penalties. Miss Garrett's paper on volunteer nurses led to a corroboration of her opinion that a higher status and more liberal pay will be the best means to obtain good nurses. In Section A of the Department of Economy and Trade, there was a great debate on drunkenness and the licensing system. Sir J. P. Kay-Shuttleworth presided. The following papers were read:-One by the Rev. James Clark, of Salford (prepared by Mr. Samuel Pope for the Executive of the United Kingdom Alliance), 'On what conditions and by what authority ought licences for the sale of alcoholic liquors to be granted?' Another by Mr. J. J. Stitt, of Liverpool, giving a history of the licensing system, and an explanation of the new licensing practice introduced by the Liverpool magistrates. A third, by the Rev. John Jones, of Liverpool, on The remedy for our national drunkenness.' And a fourth, by the Rev. A. Johnston, showing the extent and cost of the drinking system in Scotland, and the good effects of the Forbes Mackenzie Act. A fifth, by Dr. Gale, was was taken as read. The discussion was opened by Mr. J. H. Raper; and amongst those who took part in it were General Neal Dow the father of the Maine Law,' and the Rev. W. Arthur, M.A., president of the Wesleyan Conference. We quote the Western Morning News in saying that during the discussion 'a sensation was caused by the appearance of a Liverpool licensed victualler, named Smith, who boldly advocated the theory that licensing ought to be done away with altogether, because every man ought to be allowed to sell drink. The laughter grew quite uproarious when he spoke with much gusto on the great elevation of mind, and the startling revelations of truth which were made to the working classes when they got gloriously drunk. A sensation of another and profounder kind was caused when Mr. Arthur, the president of the Wesleyan Conference, announced his adhesion to the main principle of the Permissive Bill, that no community ought to have public-houses thrust upon them if two-thirds of that community were opposed thereto. This section sat for nearly five hours, and even then had by no means said all it had to say, though quite enough for the purpose.' The following resolution was proposed by Mr. Raper, and seconded by the Rev. J. V. B. Shrewsbury:-That the necessities of the country call loudly upon the Legislature to pass a general measure to amend the laws regulating the sale of intoxicating liquors; that this section would therefore respectfully request the general council of the association to consider the propriety of memorialising Government to amend the licence laws, and to insert clauses in any measure enabling the inhabitants of townships and parishes entirely to prohibit the granting or renewing of licences whenever a large majority so desire.' An amendment, by Mr. Grindley, for limiting restriction to hours of sale, and modifying the Beer Act, was proposed, but received only three votes. Mr. Raper's motion was carried by a very large majority,--a circumstance very notable, indicating an amount of progress in social science which could have been looked for at no previous period. With reference, also, to the dwellings of the labouring classes, an important discussion occurred in this section. The plan generally favoured, on the whole, was to buy up blocks of old buildings, and make them fit to live in, rather than to attempt much in new erections; and it was thought by many that parliamentary power should be sought for compulsory purchase of such buildings. A full discussion of co-operation took place in this Section, and there was a disposition on all sides to look with great hopefulness to the progress of this movement. In Section B of the same Department, taxation was discussed, and upon it the general opinion seemed to be, that the number of articles subject to duties of customs and excise should be further diminished. The Bank Charter Act and National Debt Reduction were also debated in this Section. A great gathering of working men in the Free Trade Hall, on one of the evenings, was addressed by leading members of the Social Science Association. The Earl of Shaftesbury presided, and delivered an eloquent address. Lord Brougham also spoke; and amongst the other speakers were Mr. Thos. Hughes, M.P., Mr. Daniel, M.P., Mr. Hastings, Mr. D. D. Field, Mr. Robert Rawlinson, C.B., and General Neal Dow. Having alluded to Lord Brougham, we may fitly mention here that at the meeting in the Nisi Prius Court, held on the Thursday, his lordship, in his address as president of the council, said: 'We are now in Manchester, the headquarters of the great Alliance movement, and, next to Rochdale, of the co-operative system, which indeed owes its continued existence to this place. As to the evils of intemperance, and the important services rendered by the Alliance to the good cause, there can be no doubt.' In an address in his capacity of president of the Fourth Department, Sir James Kay-Shuttleworth gave A Sketch of the Laws of Social Progress, illustrated by the Growth of the Freedom and Political Capacity of the Manual Labour Class in England,' in the course of which occurred the following passage: 'Perhaps no regenerative effort is more important or has to grapple with so formidable an evil as the United Kingdom Alliance. Between sixty and seventy millions of money are every year spent in beer, spirits, and tobacco. Every intelligent inquirer is conscious that the eighteen millions of money which we annually apply to the support of indigence and the repression of crime are to a great extent absorbed by the consequences of the demoralisation, misery, |